n. Words or phrases said to oneself, especially for therapeutic or motivational reasons.
2002
For any age, she said, self-talk represents a useful tool in staying focused. A positive statement to oneself during a game, said Jerry Stern, a Columbus psychologist certified as an Olympic sports therapist, spurs the participant to a peak state. Still, he doesn't "suggest talking to oneself out loud."
1981 (earliest)
He mixes the scientistic latinisms of the old sociology (''participation framework,'' ''referent-response'') with the weird ungrammatical coinages of the new (''say-foring,'' ''commentarylike,'' ''self-talk'').
The earliest media citation uses this phrase as a quotation from the book Forms of Talk, by Erving Goffman, which was published in 1981.